Witnesses said at least two dozen teenagers, preteens and adults were involved in the brawl.

Nicholas Vinciguerra, who lives on Maple Street, said he and his longtime friends, whom he refers to as family, had been gathered in the park Tuesday night, many seeking “payback” for a previous confrontation, when gunfire from BB and pellet guns erupted from the open windows of a black car driving north on Bates Street.

Vinciguerra said he and his friends were hit by the BBs and pellets. Three men from the group ran after the car as it turned right onto Spruce Street, then left onto Knox Street.

Jennifer Hixon, 27, said she was standing around in the park with a group of regular friends when a shot from a pellet gun struck her in the side.

“Right here,” she said. “It got me right in the ribs.”

When the car stopped halfway down the block on Knox Street, Vinciguerra and his friend confronted the youths in the car and asked them why they had shot at them. Suddenly, the three men were surrounded by roughly 30 people swinging sticks, baseball bats and other weapons, Vinciguerra said.

“You could see they were swinging for the fences,” he said.

Some of the attackers picked up bricks and used them as weapons, Vinciguerra said.

“They had bats and sticks and rocks and steel pipes,” said an 18-year-old who identified himself as David. “They had everything. They were just coming in by the dozens. There were maybe 30 of them and eight of us. It was just a brawl. A bloodbath.”

Vinciguerra said he was told that his friend had been hit with a brick and was taken to the hospital, where police said he underwent surgery and was listed in critical condition. Vinciguerra said he heard his friend had died, but he wasn’t able to confirm that information with the hospital.

“I just want my town to be the way it used to be,” Vinciguerra said, “where you could go out your door and go for a walk at 9 o’clock at night and not have to worry.”

He said the assailants didn’t appear to have any motive other than to injure people.

Almost all of the news articles on the recent attacks in Lewiston and the death of Giusti intentionally leave out the fact that the attackers who shot at the crowd, attacked bystanders and smashed Giusti’s skull with a brick are Somali Muslims."